Fillet trim means in a panel baseboard assembly



'July 23, 1968 J. B. DUNNINGTON 3,393,434

FILLET TRIM MEANS IN A PANEL BASEBOARD ASSEMBLY AFiled June 30, 1965 3 72 ,.wwwwmmnz lill/,2 Y lill un... lldl/l ff. i

l llx lu United States Patent Olhce 3,393,484 Patented July 23, 19683,393,484 FILLET TRIM MEANS IN A PANEL BASEBOARD ASSEMBLY Jon B.Dnnnington, Mercer Island, Wash., assignor to Weyerhaeuser Company,Tacoma, Wash., a corporation of Washington Filed June 30, 1965, Ser. No.468,454 3 Claims. (Cl. 52-287) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A filletinstalled along the lower horizontal edge of a panel unit which isadjustably spaced above a floor surface. The fillet includes an exteriorleg member which establishes an adjustable space and supports the upperedge of a standard width baseboard member. The lower edge of thebaseboard rests upon the uneven oor surface, but its upper edge need notbe customed fitted, since it is hidden by the exterior leg member of thefillet within the adjustable space.

This invention relates to building partitions and more particularly to amethod and means for installing the baseboards of partitions.

The use of oilice dividing partition systems has provided a means forlaying-out eiiicient oice space arrangements. Such systems have becomepopular in usage depending npon their degree of flexibility, ease ofinstallation, interchangeability, demountability and reusability. Oftenin the installation of Isuch partitions it is necessary to divide thespace in a building where the floors are uneven. While the partitionscan be leveled to accommodate 'for the uneveness of the floors, it hasbecome a costly and time-consuming procedure t-o install baseboards inthe bottom portion of the partition which accommodate for the unevennessof the floor.

Some attempts have been made to install the baseboards and partitionsystems which do accommodate for the unevenness of the floor. One suchattempt is disclosed in the U.S patent to Tomlinson 2,540,305. OneVersion of the baseboard installation is shown in FIGURE 3 thereof,which includes the use of wood baseboards 23 secu-red to a nailing strip20 by screws 24; as shown, the screws may be covered by a molding piece.Another form is shown in FIGURE 8 using a metal baseboard which isattached to the partition by special clips 27. A third form of abaseboard is the metal screen 37 shown in FIGURES 9 and 11, which isattached by special clips to the partition support. The wooden versionrequires a permanent type of attachment of the baseboard to the supportnailing strip, and each of the metal ibaseboard versions requiresspecial forms and clips to attach the baseboards to the partitionsupport.

I have discovered that Iby using a simply designed llet, which might beextruded from hard rubber, plastic or suitable metal, it is possible tohold a simply formed baseboard in proper alignment and tightness inrelationship to the partition and at the same time allow for minorvertical adjustments of the partition due to the unevenness of thesupporting licor surface.

The object of this invention is to form a smooth transition between thebaseboard and the panel units of a partition system and to allow -forvertical movement of the panel units to accommodate for the uneveness ofoor surfaces.

Anot-her object of this invention is to provide a means for using simplyshaped baseboard material having a standard height in a buildingpartition system where the vertical height between the baseboard supportand the floor may vary due to unevenness of the lloor surface.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a fillet |meansfor demountably attaching a simple baseboard member to the `bottomportion of a movable partition system which allows for vertical movementof the baseboard member to accommodate for unevenness of supportingiioor surfaces.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear tothose skilled in the art as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the yforegoing and related ends, saidinvention, then, comprises the features hereinafter -fully described andparticularly pointed-out in the claims, the following description andthe annexed drawing setting forth in Idetail certain illustrativeembodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but afew of the various ways in which the principle of the invention may beemployed.

In said annexed drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the lower portion of thetypical partition installation, showing the manner of installing thebaseboard in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view of the lower portion of a partition in transversesection showing the relative positions of the panel unit, base runnerand baseboard assembly;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary transverse section of an end portion of abaseboard installation showing one embodiment of the baseboard fillet inaccordance with the present invention; and

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary transverse section showing the end view of asecond embodiment of the baseboard assembly fillet.

FIGURE 5 is a view ofthe lower portion of a partition in transversesection showing a support means which is different from that shown inFIGURE 2.

4Continuing with a more detailed description of the drawing, referenceis primarily made t-o FIGURES 1 and 2 which show the lower portion of apartition support assembly 1. A panel unit 3 having a base member 5 witha llet slot 7 ldened in the base member 5 is connected by means of afillet 10 to a baseboard .piece 18 which spans the gap lbetween the basemember 5 and the oor surface, being supported at its lower end by sidesupport means 30 on a floor runner 20 and at its upper end by the iillet10. As shown in FIGURE '2 a vertically adjustable support device 22spans the space between the lower portion of the base member 5 and theupper portion of the floor runner 20 and may provide a wiring utilityspace 24 therein.- As shown in FIGURE 5, it is possible to support thepanel unit 3 without the use of a floor runner 20 by simply enlargingthe size of the support device 22 to provide side support for the bottomend of baseboard piece 18. The support device 22 alone or the supportdevice 22 and the oor runner 20 form support means for the base member5.

Referring now to FIGURE 3 there is shown in greater detail and inslightly larger scale one embodiment of the fillet 10. This embodimentincludes a top leg 11, which spans the distance between the top of notch7 in the base member 5 and the lower end of the panel unit 3. Anattachment leg 12 may be provided with ribs or other suitable means forpermitting a demountable attachment between the fillet 10 and the basemember 5 by engagement of the attachment leg 12 into the lillet slot 7.An exterior downwardly positioned leg 13 provides a means for coveringthe area above the top of the baseboard piece 18 and the lower edge ofthe fillet slot 7. This distance is shown by the letter H and may varydue to the unevenness of the supporting floor surface. In thisparticular embodiment of the lillet there is also included a back-stopleg 14, which provides an interior support to the upper edge of thebaseboard piece 18.

Whenever the variation in the fioor unevenness is not greater than thedistance between the bottom of the fillet slot 7 and the bottom of thebase member 5, it is possible to use a simple fillet 25, as shown inFIGURE 4, to provide the span coverage between the bottom of the panelmember 3 and the top of the baseboard piece 1S.- The simple fillet 25has a top leg 26, attachment leg 27, and an exterior leg 28. Support forthe top portion of the baseboard piece 18 is provided by the base member5.

The utilization of this invention is best described in relation to atypical installation sequence for a partition system. The fioor runner20 is laid upon the fioor surface in the desired location and verticalsupport devices 22 are placed along the length of fioor runner 20. Thepanel unit 3 is lowered onto the support devices 22 with the base membercontacting the upper surfaces of the support device 22. Wiring is placedthrough the wiringr and utility space 24. If the embodiment of fillet 10is to be used, the baseboard piece 18 may be inserted between theexterior leg 13 and the back-stop leg 14, and the entire subassembly maythen be snapped into place by inserting the Aattachment leg 12 into thefillet slot 7 in the base member 5. The fillet 10 may also be snappedinto place before the baseboard piece 18 is inserted between the legs 13and 14. In either case, baseboard piece 18 is then supported against thebottom portion of the floor runner 20 and rests on the floor surta-ce.If the variation of the floor unevenness is sufiiciently small, thefillet may be used by simply placing the baseboard piece 18 in contactat its lower end with the base runner 20 and its upper end against thebase member 5 and the fillet 25 is snapped into place by inserting t-heattachment leg 27 into the fillet slot 7.

The fillet 10 or 25 may be made of any suitable material, but extrudedplastic and aluminum have been used with good success. By virtue yof thefact that the baseboard piece 18 is free to move up and down behind theexterior legs 13 or 28 of the fillets 10 or 25, the arrangement gives aneat workman-like appearance to the complete partition system withoutthe need of custom cutting of the baseboard piece 18.

If relocation, repair or access to the utilities is required, it is notnecessary to do anything more than to pry the fillet attachment leg outof the fillet slot 7 by a simple exertion of pulling force. Thus it isseen that there is no need for destruction or time-consuming customfitting when the fillets of this invention are used to attach baseboardpieces to the bottom portion of partition systems.

Having now described my invention and in what manner, the same may beused, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

I claim:

1. In a partition system, the combination of:

a panel unit, including a base member extending horizontally along thelower edge of said panel, said base member defining a longitudinallyextending fillet slot means;

support means for supporting said base member above a oor surface,including side support means adjacent Said floor surface;

a fillet attached to said base member and including an exterior legmember and an attachment leg member;

said attachment leg member of said fillet being inserted Vin said filletslot means; and

baseboard piece supported at its lower side by said side support meansand supported at its upper edge in an adjustment space between said basemember and said fillet exterior leg member.

2. The combination of claim 1, wherein:

said support means includes support devices and oor runner means whereinsaid support devices are mounted on said -oor runner and said sidesupport means is established by the side edge of said oor runner.

3. The combination of claim 1, wherein:

said fillet exterior leg extends below said base member; said filletincluding a back-stop leg member which is positioned parallel to andinwardly from said exterior leg member;

said baseboard top edge being supported within said adjustment space andin contact with said exterior leg on one side and said back-stop leg onthe other.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,308,242 1/ 1943 Hohl 52-2382,326,245 8/ 1943 Nichols et al 52-242 3,007,213 11/1961 Hobbs 52-7163,281,172 10/1966 Kuehl 52-627 FOREIGN PATENTS 202,814 5/ 1939Switzerland. 308,834 10/ 1955 Switzerland.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

J'. L. RIDGILL, JR., Assistant Examiner.

